News of the Day From Across the Nation, July 20

Chronicle News Services

Published 5:53 pm, Saturday, July 19, 2014

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News of the Day From Across the Nation, July 20

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1 Arrest death: A rally was held Saturday at the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters in Harlem to protest the death of a New York City man in police custody. Sharpton said Eric Garner's death will test the Police Department's relationship with the black community. Police said the 43-year-old, who was black, suffered a heart attack Thursday during a struggle to arrest him on suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes. Video obtained by the Daily News shows an officer using an apparent chokehold on Garner. Prosecutors and internal affairs detectives are investigating.

2Tobacco verdict: A Florida jury has hit the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. with $23.6 billion in punitive damages in a lawsuit filed by the widow of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer in 1996. The case is one of thousands filed in Florida after the state Supreme Court in 2006 tossed out a $145 billion class-action verdict. That ruling also said smokers and their families need only prove addiction and that smoking caused their illnesses or deaths. The damages a Pensacola jury awarded Friday to Cynthia Robinson after a four-week trial come in addition to $16.8 million in compensatory damages. Reynolds' general counsel, J. Jeffery Raborn, called the damages in Robinson's case "grossly excessive."

3 Roof collapse: The roof of a privately run prison in Diboll, Texas, collapsed Saturday, temporarily trapping dozens of inmates and sending 19 injured prisoners to hospitals, officials said. Spokesman Issa Arnita said 86 inmates were in the area and many were trapped briefly. Officials at the minimum-security Diboll Correctional Center are trying to determine what caused the collapse.

4 Caffeine powder: The sudden death of a high school senior in Ohio has focused attention on unregulated caffeine powder, leading federal health authorities to warn consumers to stay away from the substance. An autopsy found that Logan Stiner, 18, had a lethal amount of caffeine in his system when he died May 27 at his home in LaGrange. The coroner said Stiner had more than 70 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of blood in his system, as much as 23 times the amount of a typical coffee or soda drinker. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it's investigating caffeine powder and will "consider taking regulatory action." The powder is sold as a dietary supplement. Users add it to drinks for a pick-me-up before workouts or to control weight gain.

5 Gas controversy: The city of Somerset, Ky., entered the retail gas business Saturday, opening a filling station that supporters call a benefit for motorists and critics denounce as a taxpayer-supported swipe at the free market. The Somerset Fuel Center opened to the public selling regular unleaded gas for $3.36 a gallon, a bit lower than some nearby competitors. The mayor says the station was created in response to years of grumbling by townspeople about stubbornly high gas prices.

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